BWDB starts work to curb erosion of Tentulia

Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) on October 24 launched a Tk 712-crore project, undertaken by the water resources ministry, to protect houses and agricultural land from erosion of the Tentulia River in Patuakhali's Baufal upazila and Barisal's Bakerganj upazila.

Under the project, concrete blocks and sand-filled geotextile bags will be dumped along 7.5 kilometres of the river's banks to protect areas between Dhulia Launch Ghat in Patuakhali's Baufal upazila and Durgapasha in Barisal's Bakerganj upazila, according to BWDB in Patuakhali. 

Executive Engineer Ariful Islam of Patuakhali BWDB said funded entirely by the government, the work of the project is scheduled to be completed by June 2023.

The project also includes 2.83 kilometres of excavation work in the Tentulia river, from where 3.69 lakh cubic metres of silt will be removed, he added.

In Baufal upazila alone, more than 2,000 houses, mosques, educational institutions and over ten thousand acres of croplands were eroded away by the Tentulia river over the last five years.

Near about 300 families who turned destitute after losing their property to the river have been living in inhumane conditions in shanties alongside rural roads.

Several hundred important establishments and houses including the residence of language hero and former lawmaker Syed Ashraf Hossain and the building of NK Government Primary School are now threatened by the river's erosion.

Affected locals had long been urging the authorities to take effective measures for protection from the erosion and they had formed a three-kilometre-long human chain in the area to press home their demand. They also formed a human chain front of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.